Hello Everyone,

Just one more set of borders to attach to Country Charmer, then this quilt top is ready for the quilting machine. The last border will be 3" of dark red, with nine-patches in the corners.  The kits for this quilt will be ready soon at In Between Stitches.

 

I did pretty well on my to-do list this week.  The only thing I didn't work on was my applique.  I looked at it.....and that was about it.

I'm teaching Heartfire this Tuesday at the shop.  Here is a picture of the first Heartfire that I made out of French General fabrics.  I had to stop quilting yesterday to prepare everything for the class.

I started by cutting a whole bunch of 1-1/4" strips that were leftovers from the basket quilt.  Nothing goes to waste in my quilting stash!

I cut some pretty centers using a 4" hexagon template.  I selected three strips that I thought would look good together.  (I'll assemble this one in class...this is just a sample.)

Here is a block that is almost finished.

I like to get a couple of blocks made to refresh my memory of the pattern.  Nothing is worse than looking like a complete idiot in front of the students!  Been there, done that! 

This is a fun and easy quilt to put together.  It is very similar to a log cabin construction.  Sew, trim, sew, trim.

I hope you all have a great week ahead.  Mine will be busy with work on Monday, and teaching on Tuesday.....and quilting of course the rest of the week, tucked into little snippets of time between household chores.  I need a self-cleaning house!

As always,

Lynn



Yellow Quandry Solved

Hello Everyone,

When in doubt, add more yellow.  Yesterday at this time, I was ready to remove some of the yellow from the baskets.  After I rummaged around in my stash and decided to use this red and white check for the sashing, the quilt needed MORE yellow, not less.  I fussy cut little yellow posts from a small scrap that I had left over.

I made more yellow yo-yo's to fill the baskets. 

I could make yo-yo's all day long and never get tired of them.  Note the little flange.  I had just enough of the flange material left to make the sashings.  I was holding my breath while I was cutting, and barely squeaked by.

Here it is finally, with all of the yellow still there, and now I'm much happier. I knew if I put this quilt away, I wouldn't get back to it, so I stuck with it yesterday.  Now I just have to make the smaller baskets for the four corners and add a border.  The tutorial for the little baskets is posted HERE under the Virtual Classroom tab.

I wanted this quilt to remind me of county fairs, summer picnics, 4th of July, Old Glory, just pure Americana.....and it does all that for me, throw in Motherhood and apple pie too!  Now, what to use for the border?????  Another dilemma that won't get solved today.  I have limited stash at the cabin, and not a scrap of yellow to be found.

Thank you readers for your input to my post yesterday.  Most of you wanted the yellow to stay, and you were right!  Have a wonderful weekend solving those pesky quilting dilemmas.

As always,

Lynn

And Then There Were Nine

Hello Everyone,

I finished making five additional blocks for Buttonwood.  This picture is telling me to remove the yellow in the borders around two of the blocks.

I like just a touch of yellow in the baskets themselves, but the yellow in the outside frame is playing havoc with the fabric that I selected for the sashings and posts.

I've auditioned multiple fabrics for the sashing, and it all boils down to the pesky yellow.

This yellow border has to GO!



I may keep this yellow.....

It is decision time today.  Or, I'll put these blocks away and work on Country Charmer for awhile and maybe I will have a brilliant idea on what to do with Buttonwood.

Wish me luck!

As always,

Lynn



My Goals for the Week

Hello Everyone,

I always make a list of goals for my day and then I have a weekly list.  Here is a visual of my weekly tasks that I've charted out for myself.

First on the list, is making more baskets for Buttonwood.  I'm incorporating more yellow into the mix.

I need to make five more baskets, and a couple of those baskets will be yellow.  This looks pretty 'muddy' since I don't have the sashing fabric up on the design wall. But you get the picture.  This is going to be a cheerful quilt that I'll display at the shop for awhile, then I'll bring it home and display it for all patriotic holidays.

I also want to make two more blocks for Country Charmer and get the borders attached.  Almost done!  I can't wait to have this one on display for Christmas.

I'm "on the fence" with October Magic.......pun intended.  My little crooked fencing sections are all ready to be appliqued.

I set lofty goals with the hope of accomplishing half of what I planned.  But half is better than nothing!

What is on your list?

As always,

Lynn

P.S.  Patty, I couldn't reply to your email since you are a "no-reply" status. In answer to your questions, yes, I am putting kits together at the shop for Country Charmer identical to the one I'm making.  The border fabric hasn't arrived yet, so the kits aren't quite ready. 

Quilt Updates

Hello Everyone,

Friday, already?  The week slipped away without a great deal of quilting to show for it.  I did make some more blocks for Country Charmer.

Just six more blocks to go, then I can focus on the sashing and 9-patches.

In the evening I sit and applique October Magic.  There are quite a few more components that need to be appliqued in this center area along with the windows on the house, plus a ghost, black cat, more pumpkins, picket fence, walkway.....you get the idea....this is far from completion.

All quilting came to a screeching halt when I decided to do a thorough housecleaning in my sewing room.  I bought this postal sorter in an antique shop quite a few years ago and it's perfect for fat quarters.  But, they collect dust......lots of dust.

Our son came over and helped us rearrange the room.  It was great having an extra set of hands combined with his muscle that we needed to wrestle this unit around.  Now that the space is all tidy and organized, I don't want to leave my little quilting nest. 

 My space isn't a grand quilting studio.  It is just a bedroom that our helpful, 'moving' son occupied until he left for college almost two decades ago.  He thinks the room looks much smaller now.  He gets a bit miffed when he sees a design wall where his team pennants and posters used to hang.  It is funny that he still thinks of the room as his.

My point is, you don't need to have a grand space to be creative.  More often than not, I move my sewing machine to the kitchen table and I'm just as happy being there.  Work with what you have, from your space, to fabric, to quilting supplies and sewing machine.  The important thing is, no matter what your circumstances are in life, you can be wonderfully creative, productive and happy.

Quilters can do anything!

As always,

Lynn

Baskets Galore

Hello Everyone,

Yesterday the classroom at In Between Stitches was full of ladies making baskets for their Buttonwood quilts.  Beautiful, beautiful baskets.

This was the second meeting for the Buttonwood class.  A couple of the girls finished their quilts already.  Pictures just don't do these quilts and blocks the justice they deserve.

All of the girls have their three yo-yo's made, three per basket.

These baskets are waiting for their frames. 

Another glorious, finished quilt just waiting to be displayed for Fall. 

We were collectively auditioning sashing and border fabric to go with this set of baskets.

Someone in the room said how cheerful this quilt is....and they are exactly right!

I've posted a tutorial under the Virtual Classroom tab at the top of the blog, showing how to make the 6-1/2" corner blocks.  You begin with a lot of half-square triangles. 

Kaye brought in her almost finished Sallie's Quilt by Bonnie Blue. We collectively settled on border fabric for this beauty.

Melody worked on her Hat Box Quilt by Kaffe Fassett since she had finished her Buttonwood quilt.

It is a good thing "eye candy" doesn't have any calories!  We were all enjoying the candy the whole day!  I am so proud of all of the girls.  They turned my pattern into beautiful works of art.  Most of them utilized fabric from their stash to pull this quilt together.  Bags and boxes full of the prettiest stashes you have even seen adorned each workspace.

The time spent in the classroom quilting isn't just all about quilting.  There is sharing of quilting tips, laughing, eating, helping others decide border dilemmas, and helping those who are going through some tough times in their lives.  A quilting class is much cheaper than therapy.

Support you local quilt shop and sign up for a class.  You'll be so glad for this creative outlet and the sharing experience.

As always,

Lynn

 

October Magic

Hello Everyone,

With all of the activity of the Christmas Quilt Along, I took a day off from quilting, until last night. The applique supplies and project came out and I finished up the tree section for October Magic.

I wish I could grow a whole garden full of polka-dot and plaid pumpkins.  Now wouldn't that be fun!  I can just picture it now.

I think I'll embroider some gold eyes, looking out of the borrow in the tree.  The fabric used in the tree trunk is just perfect.  Just enough texture so that it really looks like the bark of a tree.

I'm off to work at the shop this morning.  Our new class schedule for summer is posted here.  I'll be teaching Heartfire, Madrigal and Winter's Warmth/Summer's Blush, plus I'm offering my drop-in class the 2nd Tuesday of each month.  I'm trying something new this quarter by offering a morning session from 10-2 and an evening session from 6-9.



Heartfire

Madrigal

Winter's Warmth





Have a great day quilting.  Whatever you do, do it well.

As always,

Lynn

Christmas Quilt Along - Post #4

Hello Again to Everyone,

This is our last post of the day.  As you can see, Gail and I have been very creative since about 6am this morning.  We didn't even stop to take poor Zinnie out for her walk today.  Which means we didn't get out for our walk today either!

Gail finished two more blocks for her table runner.  Our favorite is the one on the right.  We are both very partial to those colors.

Here are her eight Lil' Orphan Scrappy blocks altogether.  She has had so much fun that she doesn't want to go home! 

I finished another block for Country Charmer.

Here are all of my blocks, sashings and 9-patches together so far.  Just nine more blocks, then I can start putting this quilt together.  This one will for sure by finished by Christmas.

We are off to Snowshoe Brewery for a salad or burger that we will wash down with a beer.  We are not being very refined today. We will change into a clean pair of jeans and hiking boots as our dress for dinner. No red wine for us tonight.....give us a BEER!  We earned every frothy ounce of it! 

Many thanks to Lesley for being the hostess of the Christmas Quilt Along today.  Stop by her blog , The Cuddle Quilter to see what she, and everyone else has been working on today.  She is also having a giveaway, so hurry on over.

As always,

Lynn & Gail

Christmas Quilt Along - Post #3

Hello Again,

My sister Gail and I are having a great time totally engrossed in our quilting.  I finished another Country Charmer block, without a mistake this time!  I actually had to really pay attention to get all of my stripes going in the right direction.

I stopped making blocks and started making sashing and nine-patches. This quilt is going to be very festive.  I can see from this picture that I need to incorporate more greens into the mix.

Gail has been working on pinwheels for her Winterset quilt. She spent most of yesterday cutting, and cutting, and cutting so all she had to do today was sew, and sew, and sew.  She is having a ball!  It isn't often that she gets to spend the majority of her day quilting and only quilting.

She has twelve of the big blocks finished for Winterset.  She is enlarging the pattern, so she is almost doubling the amount of blocks in the original quilt.

Gail and I have taken control of the dining room table since Wednesday.  We set up a card table for meals in front of the wood burning stove.  We all feel like we've been relegated to the "kid's table."

Oh well, at least we are warm while we eat!

As always,

Lynn & Gail